(CNN) – The latest salvo in the battle for coal country is an ad from President Barack Obama's campaign, which accuses Mitt Romney of using miners as "props" at a campaign rally that was subsequently used in a television commercial.

The spot, which CNN's ad tracker CMAG identified as airing in the Youngstown, Ohio media market, slams Romney for a commercial released last month.

New York (CNNMoney) - Both President Obama and Mitt Romney share a similar goal when it comes to the federal debt: They want to get it under control.

How they would do it differs greatly. Obama's goal is more restrained; he wants to keep deficits from growing faster than the economy. Romney's aim is to flat-out balance the federal budget in eight years. (Related: The candidates and the fiscal cliff)

Denver (CNN) - Hours before the first presidential debate here at the base of the Rocky Mountains, new polls indicate that President Barack Obama holds a lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney in one crucial battleground state, with the race for the White House basically all tied up in two other swing states.

The states, Florida, Ohio and Virginia, have been getting an outsized proportion of attention from the candidates and their campaigns compared to the other swing states.

(CNN) – In a spate of expectation-setting ahead of Wednesday night's debate, both campaigns offered their predictions for the first meeting between the two presidential candidates, with President Barack Obama's team arguing the first session between the candidates will be about laying details before voters, and Team Romney looking for unfiltered access to those who remain undecided.

Obama's deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, appearing on CNN's "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien," said the candidate who offers specifics in the debate will ultimately be named the winner.

Denver, Colorado (CNN) – Just what can viewers expect to see when President Barack Obama and rival Mitt Romney square off at the first presidential debate in Denver Wednesday night?

While the conversation might at-times be freewheeling and off the cuff, both candidates will have to operate under the confines of the hard-and-fast rules established by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

(CNN) - On the eve of the first presidential debate, conservative media outlets seized on footage of a five-year-old, widely covered speech by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, who argued at the time that the federal government discriminated against Hurricane Katrina victims.

The June 2007 speech at Hampton University in Virginia was widely covered by CNN and other news outlets, as Obama was already well into his presidential campaign, running alongside then-Sen. Hillary Clinton at the front of the polls.

DENVER (CNN) - To win in November, Mitt Romney must emerge from his first debate with President Barack Obama as the leader on this campaign's defining question: Which candidate do voters trust more to handle the economy?

"He has to paint a compelling picture of a better economic future and why he can lead us there and President Obama can't," GOP pollster Whit Ayres told CNN when asked to define Romney's paramount debate challenge.